Rifle Opens Season With Victory at Home

Sunday, September 30

Murray, Ky.

9:00 a.m.

Murray State

4625

4576

UT Martin & Columbus State

Photo by: Murray State Sports Information

9/30/2012 10:04:00 PM | Rifle

Results (.pdf)

The No. 8 Murray State rifle team opened the 2012-13 season with a victory over 16^th-ranked Columbus State and No. 20 UT Martin at Pat Spurgin Range.

The Racers shot an aggregate score of 4625 for the day and scored 2283 and 2342 in smallbore and air rifle, respectively, recording the high score in both disciplines. Columbus State had an aggregate team total of 4576. While the UT Martin mixed squad had 4571 and the UT Martin women scored 4465 total.

"The team has been training hard since the first week in September,” said Head Coach Allan Lollar. “It was time to get on line with another team and see where we are. We are going into this year with four freshmen. It is important to get the first match out of the way. There will be a lot of first times this year for these shooters. This was their first match in college."

Bill Harvey led the Racers and the meet in smallbore with a score of 576. Kelsey Emme scored 571 while Kaitlyn Wilson and Caroline Barber each had scores of 568. Michael Burzynski shot a 575 but was not declared toward the team score in the meet.

After dealing with mechanical problems in smallbore, Emme shot a great score of 592 and tied a career-high in air rifle to lead all competitors. Barber scored a 586, a career-best, while Kirsten Moyer had a score of 585.

"We are going into this year with four freshmen. It is important to get the first match out of the way. There will be a lot of first times this year for these shooters,” said Lollar.

For the match, Emme led all shooters with a total of 1163. Barber had a big day, scoring an 1154 aggregate score. Freshman Tessa Howald scored an 1142 and Wilson shot an 1140 total as they were the four Racers whose smallbore and air rifle scores were both declared toward the team score. Harvey and Moyer scored 1146 and 1137, respectively.

“I'm very excited about this team. Today was interesting in a lot of ways. You can divide a match into several parts. All of our shooters had good parts and some not so good parts. The important thing is to identify the places to improve and go to work on them. We did that today."

Next up, Murray State will travel to No. 6 Ole Miss on Friday for a meet with the Rebels. "Next week we will shoot in one of the best matches in the country,” said coach Lollar. Ole Miss will be ready and it will be a chance to match up against one of the best in the country. I can't wait."